Barriers to Secondary Education in Tanzania | HRW. I liked to study so that I could have a wide mind. There was nothing I didn’t like [to study]. I had a dream to finish school and go to college, graduate, and work as an accountant. Like millions of adolescents in Tanzania, Imani, 20, from Mwanza, a region in northwestern Tanzania bordering Lake Victoria, wanted to study as much as she could so that she could graduate, find a job, and support herself and her family.
From the age of 14, when she entered secondary school, she traveled more than an hour and a half every morning to get to school: I was very tired by the time I got to school. Imani’s plans changed when she was only 16 years old. A nurse would carry out monthly pregnancy tests and check all girls at her school, but Imani skipped school on two occasions when the nurse conducted the tests. Like many adolescent girls in Tanzania, Imani tried many ways to get back into education once she had her baby, who, at the time she spoke to Human Rights Watch, was three years old: Tanzania0217 accessible. School Doors Closed for Millions. (London) – Discriminatory laws and policies and a lack of political will to carry out basic human rights obligations by countries around the globe are keeping millions of children and adolescents out of school, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
Senior government education officials, global policymakers, and funding agencies will meet in Norway on June 13-16, 2016, to adopt measures to improve access to quality education globally. The 89-page report, “The Education Deficit: Failures to Protect and Fulfill the Right to Education in Global Development Agendas,” says that governments around the world made a commitment two decades ago to remove barriers to education for their children. But Human Rights Watch found that discriminatory laws and practices, high fees, violence, and other factors keep children and adolescents out of school in many countries. The report is based on Human Rights Watch research in more than 40 countries, covering nearly two decades. Report. UIS Tellmaps. Children's Rights. Tanzania: 1.5 Million Adolescents Not in School. (Dar es Salaam) – More than 40 percent of Tanzania’s adolescents are left out of quality lower-secondary education despite the government’s positive decision to make lower-secondary education free.
The 98-page report, “‘I Had a Dream to Finish School’: Barriers to Secondary Education in Tanzania,” examines obstacles, including some rooted in outmoded government policies, that prevent more than 1.5 million adolescents from attending secondary school and cause many students to drop out because of poor quality education. The problems include a lack of secondary schools in rural areas, an exam that limits access to secondary school, and a discriminatory government policy to expel pregnant or married girls.
“Tanzania’s abolition of secondary school fees and contributions has been a huge step toward improving access to secondary education,” said Elin Martínez, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. Selected Quotes “We’re beaten very hard. Human Rights Watch | Defending Human Rights Worldwide. Failures to Protect and Fulfill the Right to Education through Global Development Agendas | HRW. This serves as a grim reminder that the world has yet to fulfil its original promise to provide every children with a primary education by 2015. — UNESCO, Global Education Monitoring Report, 2015 Millions of children have no access to education, or in some cases, interrupt their education, because of ongoing human rights abuses, and governments’ failures to provide adequate protections they are entitled to under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) or to counter abuses perpetrated by state and non-state actors.
All children have a right to go to school, to have equal access to education at all levels, and to be guaranteed a quality education. While many governments have focused on legislating the right to primary education, the right to secondary education—both lower and higher—remains unprotected and unfulfilled in many countries. Guaranteeing equal access to schools to all children satisfies one basic component of the right to education. The Cost of Going to School Back to top. Document. Take Action Now - Amnesty International USA. The government of Sierra Leone has a policy that excludes pregnant girls from attending schools and taking exams. In April 2015, the Sierra Leonean Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Mr.
Bah, issued a public statement which confirmed the policy of its government. After this announcement many pregnant girls were scared to go back to school fearing that they would be sent back to their homes or they would be subject to checks or pregnancy tests. Others decided to risk their health strapping their stomachs and breasts to hide that they were pregnant. Enforcement of the ban has put girls at risk as school staff and other in positions of authority feel empowered and required to take measures to ascertain girls' pregnancy status. The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone described the ban as discriminatory, stigmatizing, and likely to worsen the marginalization of pregnant girls and women. Message Recipients: His Excellency Dr. Understanding education as a right | Right to Education Project. Human rights are inherent to all human beings, regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status.
They cannot be given or taken away. Human rights are the foundation for freedom, justice and peace in the world. They have been formally and universally recognised by all countries in the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Since then, many treaties have been adopted by states to reaffirm and guarantee these rights legally. International human rights law sets out the obligations of states to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights for all. All human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated (Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 1993: Para. 5). Equality and non-discrimination are cross-cutting principles in international human rights law that guarantee the full enjoyment of human rights to everyone. The Right to Education | Education. Education is a fundamental human right and essential for the exercise of all other human rights.
It promotes individual freedom and empowerment and yields important development benefits. Yet millions of children and adults remain deprived of educational opportunities, many as a result of poverty. Normative instruments of the United Nations and UNESCO lay down international legal obligations for the right to education. These instruments promote and develop the right of every person to enjoy access to education of good quality, without discrimination or exclusion. These instruments bear witness to the great importance that Member States and the international community attach to normative action for realizing the right to education. Education is a powerful tool by which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and participate fully as citizens. The Right to Education.
OHCHR | Human Rights Education and Training.